This invention relates generally to modular electrical connector assemblies including light emitting means for indicating electrical coupling with the connector assembly and more specifically, to modular jacks receivable of mating plugs and having associated visual indicators for indicating coupling of a mating plug to the jack.
The present invention also relates to modular electrical connector assemblies including magnetic components for filtering common mode and differential mode interference and for eliminating high frequency noise.
The present invention also relates to modular electrical connector assemblies including both light emitting means and magnetic filtering components.
Modular jack connectors or connector assemblies are well known in the telecommunications industry and have been adapted for mounting to printed circuit boards. These connector assemblies are typically used for electrical connection between two electrical communication devices. In order to ensure that a proper connection has been made and therefore a link is created between the electrical communication devices, indicators are often incorporated into circuits on the printed circuit board. These indicators are typically light emitting diodes (LEDs) which are turned on when a circuit is completed between the mating connector assemblies and the communication devices. Additionally, LEDs can be mounted on the printed circuit board to indicate a number of other conditions including the passage of communications signals between the two communication devices, indication of power, or indication that an error in transmitting the signals has occurred. Thus, LEDs provide an easy visual reference for enabling the tester of a circuit card to test the operation of circuits on the card as well as providing a status indicator during normal operation of the card.
In an effort to miniaturize printed circuit boards and increase the available space on the printed circuit board, visual indicators have been integrated into these connector assemblies. An example of such a connector assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,317 to Pocrass which describes a connector assembly for receiving a plug having a visual indicator positioned within the front wall of the electrical connector housing. Incorporation of the indicator into the electrical connector eliminates the need for a separate location on the printed circuit board for mounting of such an indicator. The LED indicator is inserted into a recess of the housing of the electrical connector such that its electrical leads pass through a wall of the housing and connect to the printed circuit board. The indicator is then cemented into the recess or attached to the housing using an appropriate adhesive. The LEDs may also be molded into the electrical connector during the molding process of the housing.
A problem arises with these connector assemblies in that because the anode and cathode leads of the LED are side by side confusion and misconnection can result prior to board mounting. It is also desirable to eliminate the need for securing the LEDs in the housing by cementing or attaching with an adhesive.
Another problem arises in that in the LEDs are situated at the front of the connector assembly, in the narrow space between the mating connector opening and the top or bottom and sides of the connector assembly. Since the connector assemblies, typically telephone jack or xe2x80x9cRJxe2x80x9d-type connector assemblies, are generally limited to predetermined dimensions, and because these connector assemblies were not initially designed to accommodate lights or other components at the front of the connector assembly, the available space is very small, and thus the LEDs are also limited in size and power. In addition, the placement of the LEDs at the front of the connector assembly presents the problem that the lead wires for the LEDs must be run through the connector assembly and bent at a ninety degree angle in order to reach the circuit board to which they are to be connected, making installation of the lights in the connector assembly difficult.
Another example of a connector assembly including an indicator light is U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,451 to Driones et al. Driones et al. shows a connector assembly having LEDs situated in openings within the stepped portion of a modular jack interior profile (FIGS. 5 and 6). Shoulders are provided to hold the LEDs in place, i.e., they are constructed to enable insertion of the LEDs through the front face of the housing while preventing removal of the LEDs through the bottom surface of the connector assembly.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,873 to Bell, Jr. shows a modular jack having a recess in a front face for receiving a light-emitting portion of an LED whereby conductor wires of the LED are passed through passageways in the jack housing to the rear of the housing and then bent downward for connection to a printed circuit board (FIGS. 1-4). In additional embodiments shown in FIGS. 5-12, the LEDs are situated at a rear of the housing and the housing is made of transparent or translucent plastic resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,737 to Morin et al. shows a modular jack which has LEDs in exteriorly facing recesses in a bottom wall of the housing. The LEDs have guide recesses which cooperate with guide projections situated at the sides of the recesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,157 to Chung shows a modular jack with LEDs mounted in a recess in the front face whereby each LED is connected via a terminal to a printed circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,802 to Loudermilk shows a modular jack having a two-part housing having a shell and a rear insert and includes three LEDs, each positioned in a chamber at the front of the shell and having conductor leads connected thereto which extend through a lead chamber to the rear of the shell. The conductor leads engage leads of conductors of a lead frame which are situated in the rear insert.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,152 to Boutros shows a modular jack having a light guide for conveying light from an LED situated at a rear of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,946 to Briones shows a multi-port connector assembly having LEDs spaced from the printed circuit board to which the connector assembly is mounted and arranged in rearwardly facing cavities in the front wall of the connector assembly (see FIGS. 6 and 8). Leads from the LEDs extend rearwardly and downwardly through recesses for connection to the printed circuit board (See FIG. 6).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,767 to Schell shows three embodiments of a modular jack with an indicator light. In a first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the jack includes a front shield or face plate adapted to be removably or detachably received against a front wall of the jack. The face plate includes brackets having bores through which LEDs are inserted. The brackets correspond in location to cutout areas of the housing of the jack. Leads extend from the LEDs rearwardly and downwardly for connection to a printed circuit board. In a second embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the face plate includes brackets corresponding in location to the cutout areas of the housing of the jack and having one or more notches for providing a seat for LEDs. To this end, the body of the LEDs includes a groove receivable of the notch. Leads extend from the LEDs rearwardly and downwardly for connection to a printed circuit board. In a third embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the face plate includes LEDs mounted to the upper portion thereof. The LEDs are electrically coupled to an end of a flexible conductor strip. The conductor strip is contiguous with the top wall of the housing and is electrically coupled to terminal pins that are in turn electrically coupled to circuits on the printed circuit board to which the connector assembly is mounted. A lens overlies the LEDs and softens the LED light effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,041 to Lee shows a modular jack having an opening situated in a bottom wall defining the plug-receiving cavity and which is positioned above an LED mounted on the printed circuit board to which the jack is mounted (see, e.g., FIG. 3A). Upon insertion of a plug into the cavity in the jack, the LED emits light which passes through the opening and through the transparent part of the plug to provide a visual indication of the status of the connection.
For the most part, in the prior art discussed above, the LEDs are arranged within the housing of the jack. Depending on the particular construction of the jack, the size of the LEDs would be limited in view of the specific dimensional requirements of RJ-type modular jacks. Moreover, since LEDs generate a significant amount of electrical noise, the proximity of the LEDs to the contact members in the jacks could adversely affect the data transmission.
Electrical devices are frequently subject to adverse operation in the presence of radio frequency interference in the electrical lines connecting the devices to, e.g., data communication lines. The electrical devices are not only susceptible to such interference, they also function as a source of such interference. Filters must therefore be interposed between connected electrical devices to screen out the interference and minimize its effect on the operation of the electrical devices.
This interference may cause two types of distortion of the power circuit wave form, viz., common mode interference where identical wave forms are impressed on the electrical lines connecting the electrical devices, and differential mode interference which appears as a voltage difference between the connecting electrical lines. Circuitry exists to filter radio frequency interference, but for optimum effectiveness and cost, it has been found to be more efficient to treat the two types of interference independently, i.e., to provide one group of electrical components to serve as a common mode filter and another group of electrical components to serve as a differential mode filter.
Since electrical devices are often coupled by modular jack connector assemblies, it is desirable to construct modular jack connector assemblies with integral magnetic filter components to avoid the need for additional, external filter components.
One such connector assembly is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,910 (Townsend et al.). Townsend et al. describes a modular jack connector assembly mounted on a main printed circuit board and having a receptacle into which a modular plug of an electronic component is inserted. The connector assembly includes a housing, a first set of contacts arranged in the housing each adapted to engage one of the contacts of the plug, a second set of contacts at least partially arranged in the housing and adapted to engaging the main printed circuit board, contact coupling circuit means for electrically coupling the first and second sets of contacts, a capacitor for providing impedance to high frequency noise and interference and a metallic shield at least partially surrounding the housing and connected to a grounding region on the main printed circuit board. The contact coupling circuit means include the filtering components which is one embodiment are toroidal coil pairs which function separately as either a differential mode filter or a common mode filter. The entire disclosure of Townsend et al. is incorporated by reference herein.
In the prior art discussed above, there is no electrical connector assembly including both a visual indicator and magnetic filtering components.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved modular connector assemblies including both a visual indicator and magnetic filtering components.
Another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved modular connector assemblies incorporating visual indicators and optional magnetic filtering components.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved modular connector assemblies including magnetic filtering components and optional visual indicators.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide new and improved modular connector assemblies including a housing capable of being surface mounted or through mounted to a printed circuit board depending on the contact members arranged in the housing.
In order to achieve at least some of the objects mentioned above and others, one embodiment of a connector assembly for mounting on a main printed circuit board comprises a light pipe element arranged in a jack and comprising at least one light transmitting section arranged such that each light transmitting section is visible from a front face of the jack, and light generating means for generating light upon proper mating of a plug in a receptacle defined by the jack. The light generating means are arranged at a rear of the jack, and possibly even partially outside of a shield surrounding the jack, and generate light which is transmitted through the light transmitting section(s) to the front face of the jack. Thus, the light generating means, e.g., an LED, is not adjacent the front face of the jack and when situated outside of the jack, its dimensions are not limited by the size of the jack.
The jack is constructed to allow for either surface-mounting to a printed circuit board or through-hole-mounting to a printed circuit board. The jack includes an outer housing part and an inner housing part and circuit coupling means including contact portions arranged in the receptacle and adapted to engage contacts of a mating plug when situated in the receptacle and terminal portions adapted to engage the main printed circuit board and electrically coupled to the contact portions. The outer housing part has a pair of stepped portions and includes a channel in each stepped portion whereby a light transmitting section may be arranged in each channel.
The connector assembly may also comprise a shield arranged over the jack whereby the light generating means are situated at least partially exterior of the jack and the shield. For example, an LED holder may be arranged exterior of and connected to the shield and the light generating means arranged on the LED holder. In this case, the light generating means may comprise at least one LED assembly, each including an LED bulb and a pair of contacts adapted to engage the main printed circuit board. The LED bulb(s) extend through a respective aperture formed in a rear face of the shield and are arranged to be in alignment with a respective light transmitting section of the light pipe element. To attach the LED holder to the shield, the shield may comprise one or more mounting posts and the LED holder includes complementary surfaces to receive the mounting post(s).
The circuit coupling means may comprise an internal printed circuit board arranged in a cavity in the inner housing part and including optional filtering components mounted thereon, a first set of contacts including the contact portions and a board portion connected to the internal printed circuit board, and a second set of contacts connected to the internal printed circuit board and including the terminal portions. The internal printed circuit board includes a wiring pattern for electrically coupling the first set of contacts, the second set of contacts and the optional filtering components. Also, the light generating means, if present, may be arranged on the internal printed circuit board whereby the wiring pattern in the internal printed circuit board is arranged to electrically couple the same to some of the contacts in the second set of contacts.
Another embodiment of a connector assembly for mounting on a main printed circuit board comprises a jack defining a plug-receiving receptacle and including an outer housing part and an inner housing part, contact members arranged in the jack, each having a contact portion situated in the receptacle, a terminal portion extending from the jack and adapted to be connected to the main printed circuit board, and an intermediate bridging portion connecting the contact portion to the terminal portion. In accordance with the invention, the bridging portion has a first surface abutting at least at a first location against a surface of one of the inner and outer housing part and a second surface opposite to the first surface abutting at least at a second location against a surface of the other of the inner and outer housing part. In this manner, an angle of extension of the terminal portion from the jack is determined by the first and second locations of the abutting first and second surfaces of the bridging portion and the inner and outer housing parts. The terminal portions can thus be made substantially co-planar.
Another embodiment of a connector assembly for mounting on a main printed circuit board comprises a jack defining a plug-receiving receptacle and including an outer housing part and an inner housing part. The outer housing part comprises a top wall including a cavity adjacent each side wall. When used with a light pipe element described above, the light transmitting section(s) of the light pipe element may have a greater cross-sectional area at a rear of the jack occupying a respective cavity than adjacent the front face of the jack and thereby increase the efficiency of the transmission of light through the light pipe element.
Another embodiment of a connector assembly for mounting on a main printed circuit board, which is designed for enabling either surface-mounting or through-hole mounting to a printed circuit board, comprises a jack including an inner housing part comprising a front, flat portion, a vertical wall extending perpendicular to the front portion and a rear portion extending rearward from the vertical wall and defining a cavity. Circuit coupling means are provided and in a preferred embodiment, include an internal printed circuit board arranged in the cavity in the rear portion of the inner housing part, a first set of contacts arranged in the jack and including contact portions arranged in the receptacle, and a second set of contacts connected to the internal printed circuit board and including terminal portions adapted to engage the main printed circuit board. The internal printed circuit board includes a wiring pattern for electrically coupling the first set of contacts and the second set of contacts and optional filtering components mounted on the internal printed circuit board.
For through-hole mounting use, the front portion of the inner housing part includes channels at a front edge, channels in a lower surface and slots extending from the lower surface to an upper surface alongside the vertical wall. The vertical wall of the inner housing part includes channels at an upper edge. The first set of contacts pass through the channels at the front edge of the inner housing part, through the channels in the lower surface of the inner housing part, through the slots in the front portion and through the channels at the upper edge of the vertical wall and connect to the internal printed circuit. Also, the rear portion of the inner housing part includes apertures extending from the cavity to a lower surface of the jack through which the second set of contacts pass.
For surface-mounting use, the front portion of the inner housing part includes channels at a front edge and channels in a lower surface and channels in a lower surface of the rear portion in alignment with the channels in the lower surface of the front portion. In this case, contact members are arranged partially in the channels in the lower surfaces of the front and rear portions and include a contact portion extending into the receptacle and terminal portions for attachment to the main printed circuit board.
Still another embodiment of a connector assembly for surface-mounting on a main printed circuit board comprises a jack receivable of an internal printed circuit board on which optional filtering components and light generating means are mounted. The jack includes an outer housing part and an inner housing part comprising a front, flat portion, a vertical wall extending perpendicular to the front portion and a rear portion extending rearward from the vertical wall. The rear portion comprises a pair of opposed projections. The internal printed circuit board is arranged at least partially between the projections of the inner housing part. A first set of contacts includes contact portions arranged in the receptacle and are connected at an opposite end to the internal printed circuit board and a second set of contacts are connected at one end to the internal printed circuit board and including terminal portions at an opposite end which are adapted to engage the main printed circuit board. The internal printed circuit board includes a wiring pattern for electrically coupling the first set of contacts, the second set of contacts and optional filtering components and light generating means. The light generating means may comprise at least one LED arranged in alignment with a respective light transmitting section of the light pipe element.
An advantage of this embodiment is that an insert assembly is connected to the internal printed circuit board and includes the second set of contacts. The terminal portion of the contacts in the second set of contacts are adapted to be surface-mounted to the main printed circuit board and thus, by manufacturing the insert assembly separately, it can be assured that the terminal portions are co-planar thereby avoiding problems when mounting the connector assembly to the main printed circuit board.